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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

As a really lame present, I'll tell you all the lessons I learned in my last tournament. Maybe they'll do you some good. These games gave me a bunch more experience with the new Space Marines, and I certainly learned a few things. I got to play against some pretty diverse opponents.

1) Amra (aka Lysander) is great, but he isn't able to take on real assault units by himself. In two games, I was defeated by assault forces after Amra was killed (despite reaping a pretty ferocious tally each time). I think Amra really needs some Assault Terminators to back him up. Sgt. Druss and the Legends will be finding their way back into my list.

Monday, December 23, 2013

This past weekend, I played in a 2,000 point, double FOC tournament in my FLGS. Stupidly, I left my camera on my desk, so I won't be doing my usual full battle reports. I do want to provide a quick rundown of each battle along with some lessons learned.

Friday, December 20, 2013

I know it's not the most exciting painting project, but it's pretty useful in game. I painted up this ADL in two nights before a tournament (more to come on that). I used a lot of drybrushing and washes to speed things up, but I think it looks good. It's certainly better than the vast majority of ADLs that I see on the table.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Eli Damaskinos is a relatively young Inquisitor of the Ordo
Malleus. At the conclusion of the Badab War, he was a minor member of the
Inquisitorial court that punished the remaining Separatist Astartes. As an
Istvaanian, Damaskinos believed that the Chapters involved in the Badab War,
the largest inter-Astartes civil war since the Horus Heresy, would be the most
effective force in Imperium. He was looking for a force that would both
validate his beliefs and support his goals.

Monday, December 16, 2013

My last post finished off the most important parts of the Devastator squads, namely the heavy weapons. However, I would need some bolter Devastators if I wanted to have some ablative wounds and combat squad. Here they are:

Friday, December 13, 2013

The Black Templars have the distinction of being the only
Second Founding Chapter to receive its own Chapter Tactics. They are an
eternally crusading off-shoot of the Imperial Fists, and they specialize in
slaying enemy champions in close combat. To represent this, Black Templar
characters re-roll failed To Hit rolls and have Rending in challenges. This isn’t a bad rule, as it means any
character can have a chance in challenges. It allows you to take power swords
without fear that they won’t be able to penetrate Terminator armor. In general,
it just makes your combat characters better in assault.

Beyond this, all Black Templar have the Crusader and Adamantium Will rules.
This makes them a bit quicker across the battlefield on foot, as well as giving
them some protection from enemy psykers. Again, both of these are helpful but
not amazing. No marine assault forces will cross the table on foot without
being shot off the table, but being faster once you get out of your transports
is a nice bonus.

The Black Templars Chapter Tactics are very fluffy for them
but aren’t exactly great in game. I don’t expect to see hardcore tournament
players using Black Templar (they all seem to be in love with the White Scars).
Instead, players that love the Templar background and want to play an assault
oriented marine list will have a lot of fun with these rules.

Monday, December 9, 2013

I've painted up the next batch of Executioner marines. This group includes the Tactical marines necessary of my new infantry hunting load out, as well as the remaining Devastators to allow me to field two five-strong squads, including sergeants and four heavy weapons. Here are the Tacticals:

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

The White Scars are a Chapter that specializes in lightning
raids and hit and run warfare, often fielding armies dominated by bike squads.
Their Chapter Tactics do a great job of representing this on the table. Their
bikes ignore Dangerous Terrain and gain +1 to their Jink saves (basically Skilled Rider under another name, which
is great if you can come up with a way to give them Skilled Rider on top of that). Beyond that, they have +1 strength
to their Hammer of Wrath hits. It won’t turn Space Marine Bikers into a real
assault force, but every bit helps.

Monday, December 2, 2013

I recently completed a small commission (okay, extremely late birthday present) for Dardreg Gargant. I painted up a few characters, trying to match his paint scheme. First up is a Librarian. Dardreg wanted metallic blue armor to match the rest of the army with their bronze armor.